BONHEUR, Marie Rosa, French artist of distinction, widely known as a painter of animals: b. Bordeaux, 22 March 1822 ; d. Fon tainebleau, 25 May 1899. Of Jewish origin, she received her earliest instruction in art from her father, himself an artist of repute, and when only 18 years old exhibited at the Salon two pictures, 'Goats and Sheep' and 'Two Rab bits,) which gave clear indications of talent. In 1849 her fine work, 'Labourages Nivernais,) was purchased by the French government and placed in the Luxembourg collection. In 1855 The Haymaking Season in Auvergne' was hung at the Universal Exposition in Paris, and in the same year she sent the 'Horse Fair' to the French Exhibition in London, where it was the centre of attraction for the season. It was offered by her to Bordeaux for $6,000, but the offer being declined it was sold in England for $20,000. It was subsequently purchased by Cor nelius Vanderbilt for the Metropolitan Mu setup in New York. She made a quarter size replica which is now in the National Gallery in London. After this work she stood at the very head of delineators of animal life,. showing a wonderful power of representing spirited ac tion. Her work is, however, marred by a de ficient sense of atmosphere. Near her studio she had an antechamber as a stable for the convenient study of animals, of which she col lected, some noble specimens. She also attended
horse markets and fairs, generally wearing masculine dress, which was not unbecoming to her strong and marked features. After 1849 she directed the Free School of Design for Young Girls in Paris. During the siege of Paris the Crown Prince of Prussia especially ordered that her studio and residence at Fon tainebleau should be spared and respected. She received a first-class medal at the French Salon in 1849 and another in 1855, and the decoration i of the Legion of Honor in 1865. In 1892 a celebrated painting by her, entitled 'Horses Threshing Corn,' was sold for $60,000. It is the largest animal picture ever painted, show ing 10 horses large as life. In 1896, on her 74th birthday, she furnished a painting repre senting the historical combat between two stal lions to which Lord Godolphin invited his friends in 1734. Characteristic samples of her work— 'Deer in the Forest,' 'A Limier Briquet Hound' and 'Weaning the Calves'— are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and,Weer Drinking' is hung in the Pub lic Library of that city. Consult Larnelle, 'Rosa Bonheur, sa vie et ses euvres' ; Peyrol, 'Rosa Bonheur : Her Life and Works' ; Stranahan, 'A History of French Painting' (1899), and the monograph by Klampke (Paris 1908).